Retelling: What Flies Beneath
by invisiblewing
Summary: This story loosely follows the Riders of Berk episode "What Flies Beneath"
1. Chapter 1

_**Riders of Berk**_** belongs to Dreamworks. Rated T for some violence.**

**Thanks for reading!**

* * *

"'Night, Toothless," I mumbled after another day that included stops at home, the great hall and the Academy.

Keeping everyone in line was difficult, especially Snotlout and the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Snotlout was always the rebel, trying to show off to anyone who would remotely pay attention to him. It would have been okay if his attitude stopped at a certain point, but it felt like there was no limit to what he would say or do to show off. Or to get the last word in. I was at least happy his retribution usually came quickly. Most of the time, his Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang, kept him in check.

The twins, on the other hand, couldn't live in peace for more than ten seconds. And their Zippleback, Barf and Belch, was always at the center of their arguments. If anyone ever wondered why their dragon was always bickering with itself, they never had to look farther than Ruff and Tuff. I just wanted one day where an idea at the Academy wasn't disrupted. But it looked like it would have to wait until tomorrow. If not later.

I lay down in my bed and pulled the covers up. Toothless and I had arrived about twenty minutes ago from our evening lap around the island, goofing around, trying different stunts. Tonight was simple: let's see how fast we could complete a lap. Then let the wind take us where it wanted for a few minutes. If nothing else, flying around Berk wore Toothless out enough to get him to sleep.

I could always count on finding sleep when Toothless was around. Not just because he was my protector, my guardian dragon. Because I could listen to him breathing, sounding like the bellows I use in the armory. It was always the same rhythm, always steady, always relaxing.

I was about to lose consciousness when a low growl woke me up. It happened every now and then. Most of the time, it was in the morning when Toothless was telling me to get up for flying. I knew of two times when a Viking who Toothless didn't recognize walked in late, looking for my dad, who was out chiefing somewhere. Both times, the Viking called for him and then left without another word, totally unconcerned about the guard dragon we had.

But tonight was different. Nobody came calling, and moonlight was filtering in through the skylight in our roof. And Toothless sounded different. This was way more intense than I had ever heard from him. He was glaring at the floor under his feet, like the boards were moving under him.

"Aw, come on, Toothless. Give it a rest until morning," I whined before trying to fall back asleep. Toothless looked at me, sniffed around and then jumped out of the skylight. I shrugged, thinking nothing of it. He was free to come and go as he pleased. And he took advantage of it too. I figured it'd take a little longer to get to sleep without Toothless comforting me, but he'd be back in the morning anyway, ready for a quick flight and then a few fish.

The wind picked up slightly, whistling as it crossed the open skylight in the roof. In the distance, the surf was crashing against the rock cliffs guarding Berk. The crickets were warming up for their nightly symphony. We were at peace with the world, well, except for maybe Toothless. For a couple of minutes or so. I relaxed and eventually fell asleep.

* * *

"Um, Hiccup? Are you awake yet?"

"Mm. Hey, bud," I mumbled half-asleep with my eyes closed. "I didn't know you could talk."

"Oh, yeah. I've been hiding that from you for a year now. I can talk just fine, especially when _Astrid is being a ventriloquist_."

My eyes shot open. It was Astrid. She was standing over my bed, waiting for me to get up. She had a grin on her face, the type of smile that said she was gonna tell everyone on Berk about what I had just done. "Great. Perfect start to the day," I grumbled sarcastically, throwing my hands in the air as I sat up. Looked around blearily, finding Astrid was the only one around. I felt relieved there were no other witnesses, so maybe I had a chance with this little story? Maybe they wouldn't believe her?

"Well. I think Snotlout wants to hear _this_," she said excitedly.

"Sure, he does," I said with a yawn. "He'll _definitely_ listen to your story, 'cause in his mind, that means you're flirting with him."

Astrid pulled back a couple of inches with a disgusted look on her face. "All right, Hiccup. This is our little secret. It. Does. Not. Leave. This. Room. _Got it?_" she said, threatening my nose with a fist.

"You betcha. And where's Toothless?"

"Nobody's seen him. I thought he sleeps here. You always go flying around the island in the mornings."

"Yeah, that's why I'm asking. He growled at the floor last night and then took off. Like it was gonna attack him or something."

"The…floor?" she asked. "Okay, this isn't sounding good. Hiccup, you need to see this, like, ten minutes ago."

"See what?"

"Just follow me."

I stood and stretched with a yawn. Slid into my boots and vest. Walked over to the bath area and quickly washed my face off, trying to fully wake up. Ambled down the stairs, avoiding the fifth step and walked outside to find Astrid standing there. "All right, Astrid. Let's see what's so unbelievable." We started walking.

"I've never seen anything like it. I mean, there's not a dragon that, you know, lives…underground, right?"

"That's Fishlegs's department."

"Right here," she mumbled.

I looked straight ahead. Nothing out of the ordinary. There was Spitelout's house straight in front of us. No dragon, unless it was invisible. To the left was the great hall, and to the right was the way to the docks. I took a few steps forward and said, "Astrid is this a…"

"HICCUP!" Astrid jumped and grabbed my vest just as my right foot was suspended in air.

I looked down. There was more air beneath my right foot. Way more than normal. In fact, it looked like a giant sinkhole had opened in the earth. It was probably about fifteen feet across and maybe ten feet deep. "Got it! I'm awake now! Thanks, Astrid."

I shuffled around the hole as several other Vikings joined our little party. I had gotten about a third of the way around it when someone asked, "Why would the ground just open up?" A small murmur rolled through the crowd as they exchanged their own theories. Maybe Thor had gotten angry at this patch of dirt. Maybe there was a sinkhole here and we just didn't know about it. Maybe someone started mining here. Maybe it was a dragon.

Yikes. I had no idea of any dragon that could do this. I definitely had to find Fishlegs.

I continued sidling around the hole when I noticed something. In a vertical hole, sunlight makes an arc across one side of it. The sun was to my left, and that familiar arc was there. But on the far side of the hole from me, the arc was misshapen. Like the hole wasn't a hole. Like it was a tunnel.

Astrid must have caught onto my expression. "Hiccup, what's going on?" She paused for a brief moment and said, "And _no_, you're not going down there."

"This might be a dragon," I conjectured, ignoring her warning. "Let's go find Fishlegs. And if we can't find him, we can get the Book of Dragons."

Astrid was already on it. She had taken off, headed fifty feet away, toward Fishlegs's house. She knocked on his door, and a few seconds later, Fishlegs answered. He and Astrid launched into a short conversation, but I couldn't hear because I was too far away. After a minute or so, I saw Fishlegs put his hand to his chin in thought. Astrid had just asked him about a dragon that could make this kind of hole. His eyes brightened, and he pointed at her with a smile. Yes, he knew of one.

I made my way over and barely caught the back end of their exchange. "…A Whispering Death."

"What do you know about it?" Astrid asked.

"Um, nothing really," he replied. "Just that it lives underground. As far as I can tell, it's pretty rare. I think we should go get the Book of Dragons for this one."

Astrid turned around and looked at me. I shrugged and said, "Sounds like a good place to start."

The three of us ambled to the great hall. Conveniently, I had already planned to visit there for breakfast. Knowing we had the Book of Dragons there reminded me just how serendipitously efficient our little operation was.

I grabbed a dish with a smoked cod on it and sat down next to Fishlegs, who was starting on his breakfast. Astrid joined us a few seconds later with a fish of her own and the Book of Dragons.

"Let's eat first, then we can discuss what's going on in town," Astrid suggested.

Fishlegs and I had read her mind, because we started eating before she said anything. She joined us in silence.

I was first to finish, so I waited for Fishlegs and Astrid. They finished at roughly the same time, so I stood up and collected their dishes. Took them to the back of the great hall to be cleaned. And returned to the table, where Fishlegs was already flipping through the book.

"Boulder Class dragon," he mumbled. "Ah! Here it is."

Both Astrid and I crowded around him, waiting for an explanation.

"Uh, it says here the Whispering Death tunnels through rock at incredible speeds. It has several rows of rotating teeth to grind up rocks."

"Does it eat the rocks?" I asked.

"Doesn't say," Fishlegs said immediately. "Um, it also says the Whispering Death is like a flying snake. It doesn't have any legs." Both Astrid and I shuddered.

"HEY!" a voice rang out through the hall. It was Ruffnut. "EVERYBODY COME SEE THIS! TUFFNUT'S STUCK IN SOME KIND OF HOLE IN THE GROUND!"

"I'll bet you supper tonight his sister pushed him in," Astrid said flatly.

"That's waaay too sure a bet," I replied. She grinned slightly at me. The three of us stood up and left the great hall.

* * *

"Guys, I can't get out! And I have no idea what's down here," Tuffnut said. He sounded genuinely worried, which was a rarity for him.

"I think we should leave him. He fell down here in the first place," Snotlout said.

"Yeah, right," Astrid countered. "C'mere." She grabbed Ruffnut by the arm and led her over to the hole in the ground. The hole where Tuffnut was trapped. Astrid lay on her front, her head and chest hanging over the edge. "Hold onto my ankles and help me pull Tuffnut up," she instructed.

Ruffnut looked at her quizzically and said, "Why? I like seeing him down there. You know, as soon as you get him out, I'm just gonna push him back down there."

"Oh, really?" a gruff voice asked her. It was my dad. Stoick the Vast, a.k.a. chief of our pleasant little tribe. "Help Astrid, or you get down there and tell us what's going on."

"Pssh," she countered with a wave of her hand. "I can tell you exactly what's down…uh…okay, I'll do it." My dad had just intensified his glare at her, something he had plenty of time to practice on me.

Ruffnut crouched and took hold of Astrid's ankles. She lowered Astrid just enough to reach Tuffnut.

"Okay! Bring us up," Astrid said. Tuffnut grimaced and pulled, eventually getting her brother out of the cavern with plenty of fuss.

"Why can't things go this well at the Academy?" I asked rhetorically.

"There's, like, a tunnel or something leading off somewhere," Tuffnut said.

"Oh, yeah. I'll try to imagine it," Astrid replied. She paused, letting the awkward moment hang. "Okay, I can't."

"Was there anything down there besides you?" Snotlout asked. Tuffnut shrugged, one of the few times he was being frank about something without complaining.

"HEEEEY!" a voice echoed. It sounded like it was coming from below. From the hole. "Get me out of here too!" It was Bucket. He had some kind of head injury before I was born, and now he wears a bucket on his head. It must have affected his brain because he was the definition of a simpleton. And he gained artistic talent after that injury, according to Gobber. Go figure.

"Oh, I thought you meant anything _interesting_," Tuffnut said to Snotlout.

"_Groan_…" Gobber said sarcastically, ambling toward us.

Astrid leaned over the edge again, my dad holding her by the ankles. Bucket grabbed her hands, and she and my dad pulled him up. Just as an eerie silence fell over the area.

"It's like an underground village down there!" Bucket exclaimed. "And why is everybody whispering? I don't like it when you gossip about me."

But nobody was talking except for Bucket. Nobody could talk, because whatever that low-pitched hiss was, it had all of us scared silent.

"G-guys," Fishlegs said shakily. "I don't like the way this sounds."

The ground began rumbling slightly. Maybe this was what Toothless was onto last night. Maybe he could feel it long before we could.

The pit we had extricated Tuffnut and Bucket from suddenly exploded with a wall of dirt, roots and rock, throwing Bucket a few feet backward. He staggered a few more feet back, his legs too shaky to really move.

"Oh…no…" Fishlegs mumbled.

As the debris from the small explosion cleared, a gigantic snake of a dragon stared at each of us, hovering about ten feet off the ground. I thought looking a Zippleback in the eyes was frightening enough because of its wicked grin. I had no idea there was something even more terrifying. The dragon had no pupils in its eyes. Two white orbs gave it a ghostly look, something that could strike fear in anyone just to make them easier targets. The dragon gave a shrill roar, sounding like two sharp swords grinding against each other. I looked into its jaws from about twenty feet away and saw several rows of rotating teeth. The dragon also had rows of long fangs on both top and bottom jaws slightly obscuring the smaller rotating teeth.

_No way,_ I thought. This dragon looked like it could kill in a heartbeat.

It roared again, just as shrill as the last time. Contorted its back and shot straight downward, back into the hole it had created.

Slowly, I relearned how to breathe. Cautiously glanced around and saw everyone was just as scared as I was. Including my father. This wasn't good. Not when you have the world's best dragon fighter locked up in fear. And no way to defend yourself.

"W-was that a…" Astrid started.

"Whispering Death," Fishlegs finished for her.

"Whoa, cool name! I want one," Tuffnut said.

Whatever it was, it didn't make sense to me. The dragon showed itself, intimidated the living daylights out of everyone and then…left. It was acting aggressively, but never attacked. This was way out of the norm for a dragon. I knew angry dragons immediately attacked whatever moved in front of them.

I thought for a little bit and realized my guardian dragon wasn't here to protect me if something had gone awry. With everything we had been through, Toothless was always there for me. He saved my life after we killed the Red Death. He was there to warn me about the Typhoomerang, even though I didn't listen to him at first. He protected me and Astrid during an avalanche. But he wasn't here today.

"Where's Toothless?" I asked the group. All of them looked at me like I was crazy. Toothless was always by my side. But right now, nobody had an answer.

The low hiss started again, making Bucket groan in fear. His more independent companion, Mulch, was just as scared.

"Everybody, go get your dragons," my dad said. Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, the twins and my dad ran off to fetch their dragons. But I didn't because I had no idea where Toothless was.

"Hiccup, where's your dragon?" Bucket asked me. I looked at him and shrugged.

Within seconds, Astrid brought up the front with Stormfly. Her dragon landed about ten feet away from me. "Wherever Toothless is, I hope he gets here soon," she said.

The ground began rumbling again, and the Whispering Death blasted out of that same hole, just like last time. It gave the same shrill roar, which the other dragons returned. They were ready for a fight.

Out of nowhere, a slightly lower-pitched roar emanated from across the village. It sounded like a Night Fury, if I had ever heard one. Like Toothless. I turned and saw him barreling toward the Whispering Death at full-tilt, murder on his mind. He was late, but he had come to protect me.

The Whispering Death glared at the rest of the dragons. It hissed and squared itself to Toothless, who was now within leaping distance.

Sure enough, Toothless left the ground and snagged the Whispering Death's lower half and brought it to the ground. This dragon was massive, its head almost as big as Toothless himself. The dragon thrashed on the ground for a moment, and then Toothless jumped off its back like it was white-hot. I saw several spikes, kinda like on a Nadder's tail pointing outward from the Whispering Death's body. The dragon took advantage of losing Toothless's grip to start hovering again. Toothless roared in half-pain, half-anger at the dragon and shot two fireballs, both of which the dragon quickly avoided. It returned fire way faster than I had ever seen a dragon react. Most of the time, there was a windup, a movement you saw before a dragon shot fire. The Whispering Death didn't have that movement. It began shooting fire as it was avoiding Toothless's salvo. Toothless couldn't get out of the way in time, this creature was so fast. The fire, which flowed like lava in a concentrated stream, struck Toothless in the chest, sending him backwards in pain.

"GUYS! TOOTHLESS IS IN TROUBLE! WE'VE GOTTA HELP HIM!" Astrid shouted. She directed Stormfly toward the Whispering Death, and her dragon cackled, ready to fight.

All of a sudden, Toothless whipped around and roared at Stormfly, making her back up slightly, wings spread.

"What's wrong, girl?" Astrid asked. "We've gotta help Toothless!" But her dragon wouldn't budge. Neither would anyone else's.

Toothless turned his attention back to the Whispering Death, which had just launched a volley of spikes at him. Toothless was ready and jumped to the side. He began circling, and the Whispering Death immediately shoved itself between the other dragons and Toothless.

I knew something bad was gonna happen, and there was nothing I could do about it. The Whispering Death was making sure of it.

"EVERYBODY STAND BACK!" my father shouted from the air. He was on his dragon's back. A Thunderdrum named Thornado. "THORNADO'S GOT SOMETHING TO SAY!"

He didn't need to ask anybody twice. The sea of dragons and riders parted just as Thornado bellowed in the Whispering Death's direction. The dragon was knocked toward Toothless, who blasted it with a fireball. The Whispering Death didn't even try to shake off the blows, because it whipped around and shot Thornado with another stream of lava. My eyes widened in horror as my dad and his dragon crashed.

"I don't think this dragon has its listening ears on," Gobber observed. He ran to help my dad.

Toothless must have seen what happened because he bellowed at the dragon and tried to lift off. He got two wingbeats in before he crashed. Shot another fireball upward at the dragon, which avoided it again. The dragon whipped its body toward Toothless, impaling his back left leg with two spikes. Toothless jumped and roared in pain as the spikes ground into his leg.

"WE'VE GOTTA DO…" Astrid couldn't finish her command. The Whispering Death roared again and dove back underground. And everything was silent.

Toothless looked at me in pain, asking for my help when the ground started rumbling again. I had an idea of what was going to happen, and I really hoped I was wrong about it. The ground beneath Toothless caved, bringing him with it. A couple of seconds later, Toothless was shot from the newly-created hole in the ground. He flew about twenty feet in the air before crashing, two new spikes lodged in his right side. The Whispering Death shot out of the hole, gave an earsplitting roar and dove straight back underground.

Everything fell silent again. We waited for a few seconds, but nothing else happened. The Whispering Death was gone, but I had a feeling it would be back. And soon.

I ran over to Toothless, who was lying on the ground, trying not to move. Astrid joined me. "Go help Thornado," I told her.

"They're already on it," she said, jerking a thumb at the Thunderdrum, who was being tended by Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins. Everybody was dead serious. Not even the twins were arguing about how "cool" the Whispering Death was. Not when we had two injured dragons befall us within a minute. Toothless groaned in pain with each breath he took.

"He's gonna bleed out if we remove the spikes in his side," I said. The ones in his leg looked okay, but I wasn't gonna take any chances. "Astrid, we need bandages now."

"Okay, be right back," she said. She took off to the armory, which was just across the way. And was back within a minute.

"We'll need to keep pressure on Toothless's side and leg once we remove these," I instructed. She nodded. I took a deep breath and said, "Side first. One, two, _three_."

I yanked both spikes out at the same time, and blood followed, oozing out of Toothless's side. Toothless yelped and began panting from the pain. Astrid quickly placed the seaweed on his side, followed by soft leather. She kept both her hands on the wounds, trying to stem the blood flow. I made my way over to his leg. Wrapped my hands around the spikes and yanked again. Toothless jumped and kicked at the air. I got the bandages on, but the blood flow from his leg was much less severe. I figured I could wrap it for the night and he'd be okay by morning. I wasn't so sure about his side.

"Astrid, can you help me walk Toothless home?" She looked at me and nodded. "C'mon, buddy, let's get some rest," I told Toothless.

Astrid and I gingerly pushed Toothless to a standing position, where he wobbled precariously. He groaned in confusion as he tried to walk forward, but home was to his right.

"Hiccup, I think the spikes are poisonous," Astrid said, still holding the leather to Toothless's side. I said nothing. I only wanted to get my dragon indoors, where he would be safe for a while.

Slowly, we guided Toothless home and got him upstairs, where the fifth step made a report like a small explosion under his weight. He jumped slightly, making the step pop again. Astrid and I quickly got him upstairs to his favorite spot in this house. It was a rock that was severely charred from his fire. Toothless always charred whatever surface he was gonna lay on for the night. It was something I could count on as part of his routine, something I liked about him. It was one of his little quirks.

But this time, Toothless just slowly curled up on his rock and began shivering. His eyes had an unfocused, glassy look. "Astrid, bring me as many buckets of water as you can carry," I said. We had to dilute the poison before it became irreversible. That meant getting Toothless to drink a lot of water.

"Be right back," she said. She tromped downstairs. And the fifth step popped under her foot, making her groan in frustration as she made her way outdoors.

Astrid came back a few minutes later with four buckets full of water. That would probably do for now. She put the first bucket in front of Toothless's snout, where he looked at it and began drinking slowly. It looked like he was gonna live, but I wanted to play it safe.

Toothless was on the third bucket about thirty minutes later when the rest of our little crew came inside. The teens joined us upstairs as they watched Toothless drink.

"Thornado's doing well, just shaken up," Fishlegs told us. I felt somewhat relieved that one of our dragons was gonna be okay.

"Whoa. That. Was. Insane," Tuffnut said slowly. He broke into a grin and exclaimed, "Now I really want one of those!"

"You know," Snotlout began smugly. "I think you and Hiccup did this all wrong."

"What do you mean?" Astrid asked. I wasn't thinking about anything except for helping Toothless heal.

"You shoulda just let him fly off and lick his wounds…oh, what am I saying? He can't!" Snotlout laughed.

"Did you seriously just go there?" Astrid gritted at him.

"Hey, I call it like it is."

"How about calling for a new conversation?" I asked him.

"Can we stop arguing and please talk about what just happened?" Fishlegs asked insistently. We all looked at him to continue. "Aside from the Red Death, I've never seen a fight between dragons that intense before."

"Did you see what Toothless did when we tried to help?" Astrid said. "He wouldn't let us do anything."

"And the Whispering Death looked like it singled Toothless out," Ruffnut said. For once, she made an astute observation. I would have applauded her if Toothless wasn't in so much danger.

"Yeah," Fishlegs added. "When it showed itself the first time, it didn't do anything except roar."

"And what was that about dragging Toothless underground and spitting him back up? The Whispering Death probably knew it could kill him, but it didn't," I said. I hugged Toothless, thankful he wasn't dead. He gave a weak moan, acknowledging my presence.

"I, uh, I think that dragon was trying to send us a message," Fishlegs said. "It must have known Toothless can't fly, so it, like, wanted to prove Toothless was weaker. Or something like that." He paused for a little bit and randomly asked, "Do you think it has a grudge against Toothless? If so, how long would it last?"

"To the death?" Astrid asked. Fishlegs and I shrugged. We had no idea, but if she was right, I was gonna make sure Toothless never left my side.

* * *

What a long day. I spent most of it watching over Toothless, who slept through most of the afternoon. I didn't even think about visiting the Academy, even though the rest of the teens did. Whatever was in those spikes, it was definitely a potent toxin.

"Okay, bud. Let's see how you're doing," I said as Toothless lay on his rock, watching me intently like he always did. His eyes were more focused.

I peeled the bandage off his leg. No blood, just a couple of swollen pock marks. Toothless would probably have a limp for a little while, but that was it. His side, however…

I pulled the bandage back and saw the wounds were still bleeding slightly. Before I could get the bandage back on, Toothless grunted and nudged me out of the way with his head and started licking his wounds, just like Snotlout wanted. I remembered what he did for me when my hands were gashed by the cable connecting the stirrup to his tail fin. He stopped the bleeding and the pain within minutes instead of hours. I sat back against my bed, realizing he would be okay.

I stroked his cheek, and he responded by licking me in the face with a low rumble. I smiled at him. He returned one of his grins. Yep, he was gonna be just fine. Toothless resumed working at his injuries. After a while, he climbed out of the skylight with a low grunt and jumped.

_Not good,_ I thought. I quickly stood up and bolted downstairs, making sure Toothless was within my sight. Opened the door and found a Night Fury staring me in the face. Toothless was looking at me like nothing was out of the ordinary. He must have gone outside because of all the water he drank today. I breathed a sigh of relief and led him back inside. He climbed the stairs, jumping as the fifth step popped under his foot. I followed him, making sure to keep from making any excessive noise.

By the time I got upstairs, Toothless was on his rock, charring it again. He tromped on it a few times and lay down, looking at me with his head on his paws. Just like normal.

I felt more relaxed now, knowing Toothless was perfectly fine. "G'night, buddy," I said, stroking him on the cheek. He murmured with his eyes closed.

I climbed into bed and fell asleep immediately after a stressful day.


	2. Chapter 2

Despite Toothless having recovered once night settled, I barely got any sleep. Because of the Whispering Death. The dragon that not only had to demoralize Toothless, but also get inside my mind about Toothless being "weak." Its message definitely sank in.

I blearily opened my eyes to find a shaft of sunlight filtering in through the opening in my ceiling. It was time for a lap around the island. And then breakfast. I sat up, got my boots and vest on and shuffled to the bath area. Went through my morning routine and walked back to my bedroom.

"C'mon, buddy. Time to…" I froze mid-sentence. Toothless left me two days in a row. But today was worse.

_He went to find the Whispering Death,_ I thought. That dragon had to know Toothless couldn't fly without help. And if Toothless went alone, then he was in massive trouble. He could meet his death at any instant today.

I raced down the stairs, forgetting about the fifth step, which sounded like it exploded underneath my foot. I crashed into the wall at the bottom of the stairs and checked to make sure everything was still in place. Fifth step still there, no shrapnel in my boots. Or legs. Everything was okay.

"Hiccup! Where are you going?" my father shouted as I wrenched the door open.

"Dad-Toothless-is-gone-he's-looking-for-the-Whispe ring-Death!" I shouted way too quickly because I was in panic.

"Slow down, son. Stop shouting. What is going on?"

"I…don't know. Toothless got out last night looking for the Whispering Death."

"He'll be fine," my dad said. "I don't think that dragon will be coming back for a while. It knows we're going to fight if it shows up again."

"Are you kidding me!? Toothless isn't 'fine!' That dragon is gonna kill him if I don't do something about it now!" Without saying another word, I bolted out of the house, shutting the door behind me.

I ran to Astrid's house and pounded on her door. She answered after a few seconds, which seemed to stretch for hours. Her eyes went wide in surprise when she saw me. "Hiccup! What's going on?"

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself before I yelled unintelligible gibberish in front of the entire village. "Toothless is gone! He's looking for the Whispering Death. We've gotta get to the Academy where we can get a plan together."

"I thought Toothless was gonna stay by your side!" she shouted.

"I did too, but I have no idea what's gotten into him. Can we _please_ hurry?"

Astrid looked me over and said, "Okay, you get the twins. I'll grab Fishlegs and Snotlout. Do we need our dragons?"

I nodded way too obviously and said, "Yeah, we're not gonna look for Toothless on foot."

I ran over to the twins' house and realized I should have switched with Astrid. Snotlout would have made fun of me, but he'd at least go to the Academy without complaint. The twins? Flip a coin on whether they'd go because someone told them to.

I knocked on their door. A few seconds later, two muffled voices screaming at each other advanced toward the door. The twins were fighting over who was gonna answer it. Figured. The door swung open, revealing Tuffnut. He had won this morning's contest with his sister.

"Oh, it's you," he said in disinterest. "What do you want?"

"Toothless went looking for the Whispering Death. I need to find him before something bad happens." I paused briefly and added, "And I need your help."

"You? My help?" Tuffnut said.

"What about me!?" Ruffnut asked.

"Both of you," I said. "We've gotta get to the Academy."

"D'you think Toothless is there?" Ruffnut asked.

I looked at her with a confused face. "No, he's not. Please. I _really_ need your help."

"You? My help?" Ruffnut asked.

"Hey, he was talking about me!" her brother shouted.

This was getting old. I shrugged in annoyance and left. But the shouting didn't stop. It followed me as I walked toward the Academy. The twins were shouting over who was going to "help" the ninety-pound boy who was walking in front of them. I wasn't gonna interrupt. Not when the twins were following me every step of the way, even though they were bickering. _This is surprisingly easy_, I thought. I had never seen the twins go willingly to the Academy because someone told them to, and today was no exception. _Unwittingly_, however…

We were at the bottom of the slope to the arena when Astrid shouted, "Knock it off! I'm getting a headache!" The twins froze and looked at her. Looked around.

"Uh, why are we at the Academy?" Ruffnut said. I didn't reply to her question. Launching into a conversation only meant delaying getting to Toothless.

"So," Snotlout started. "Lemme guess. Toothless isn't with you, so that must mean he went out for a morning flight?" He paused for a beat and broke into laughter. "Oh, wait a minute, he _can't_."

"Did you just go there again?" Astrid shot at him.

"Hey, it's not my fault that pathetic dragon can't fly. You know, Hiccup, that Whispering Death was absolutely right about you and Toothless. There's no way either of you is strong enough to bring it down. Hookfang, on the other hand, could probably do it with his eyes closed."

I was already in a foul mood, but this was too much. Before I could even move, Astrid quietly said to her dragon, "Stormfly, spine shot."

Stormfly whipped her tail around and landed five of her tail spikes in a half-moon pattern around Snotlout's feet. He jumped back in panic and collided with Hookfang behind him, startling his dragon. Hookfang jumped in the air and knocked Snotlout onto his face with a wide sweep of his wing. I was pretty sure it was unintentional, but it sure felt good seeing some much-overdue revenge befall Snotlout. He groaned as he slowly got to his feet.

"Go get your dragon," Astrid told him while motioning me to join her. "You're helping us look for Toothless."

Without looking in Snotlout's direction, I took Astrid's hand and jumped onto Stormfly's saddle.

"Where do we start?" Astrid asked.

I thought for a little bit and said, "Let's search moving away from the village into the forest. Look for any holes in the ground."

Astrid led the way out of the Academy with me just behind her on Stormfly's back. The rest of the teens followed, although Snotlout was grumbling in frustration. We took off, heading for the mountain north of Berk.

"I GOT SOMETHING!" Tuffnut shouted.

"Does it have anything to do with the Whispering Death!?" Astrid shouted. "Last time you wanted us to see something, you showed us a leaf!"

"Well, I think it does. It's a giant hole in the ground. And there's another one right next to it."

"I don't think I've ever said this about you," I started. "But good job, Tuff."

He beamed for a little bit and then asked, "So where's the Whispering Death?"

"Obviously not here!" Snotlout shouted.

"Guys, I don't like it here," Fishlegs said after a brief silence. "What happens if we find the Whispering Death before we find Toothless?"

"Train it," I said quickly, without emotion. Like it was just gonna be another day on Berk.

"Hiccup, are you sure about that?" Astrid asked.

"Yep," I said without making eye contact. I knew it was a long shot to train this beast, but if I could somehow pull it off, the dragon would leave us alone.

"So, you're trying to get yourself killed?" Astrid asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"Hookfang, stop!" Snotlout shouted.

"Stop what?" I asked, turning around. Nobody had to answer, because I had an inkling of what was going on. All of the dragons around us were getting restless. Like they were nervous about something. Like I saw them yesterday, just before…

"SHH! _Listen,_" Astrid said. We paused. Astrid must have seen the dragons were onto something.

"WHAT ARE WE LISTENING FOR!?" Ruffnut shouted, breaking the silence. Astrid's hand met her face as she groaned in frustration.

"Why does she want us to listen to silence?" Tuffnut asked. "It's not like there's anything impor…"

All of us heard a low hiss at the same time. _Here we go again,_ I thought. But today was much shorter of a wait because the ground about fifteen feet in front of me exploded, revealing the Whispering Death. It looked exactly as frightening today as it did yesterday. So much for my dad's badvice about this dragon leaving. I backed up several steps to hopefully avoid the dragon.

The Whispering Death hovered in the air for a moment, looking us over. It roared, just as shrill as yesterday, and dove back underground. Just like yesterday.

"I…absolutely…_hate it_ when that dragon does that!" Snotlout gritted. "Why does it do that?" he asked, turning to Fishlegs. Fishlegs was too frozen in shock to react. Snotlout bore in on him before he realized what was going on.

"Uhh, maybe it likes to. Maybe it's looking for someone to kill. Maybe it's dowsing for water. Maybe it wants its spikes back. Maybe…_he can't stand it when everyone is looking at him, demanding all the answers when there are none!_" Fishlegs shouted.

"_Heeee's looooosing it,_" Tuffnut whispered to his sister.

"I know. This is getting pretty cool," she replied.

The low hiss started again. And predictably, the ground erupted, this time about fifty feet away. Instead of roaring and diving back underground, the Whispering Death crashed its head into the dirt and began dragging along the ground, tossing up bits of rock and turf as it zig-zagged its way toward us. The dragon growled in our direction.

"Nobody move," I instructed. "This is a threat display."

"It's doing a pretty good job of that!" Fishlegs pointed out.

Just then, the Whispering Death sprinted through the ground straight at me.

"HICCUP!" Astrid shouted.

I tensed in fear, turning slightly away from the dragon just in case it decided to maim me. But the rumbling stopped, covering me in a fine shower of dirt. Some of it lodged itself between my shirt and back.

Slowly, I turned to face the dragon, seeing its head a few feet away. I couldn't tell if it was glaring or just looking or trying to be friends because its eyes were pupil-less. Just like last time. I heard the dragon breathing, a forceful whistle every time it exhaled. Hesitantly, I put my right hand out, trying to ease it into cooperating. The dragon blinked. It paused for a second or two as I inched my way closer. Its mouth was slightly open, which I guessed was relaxed for the creature.

I was maybe six inches away when the Whispering Death gave a quick shriek and gnashed its mouth shut, making me jump back in surprise. Its bottom teeth were just long enough to slightly obscure its eyes, which made the dragon look even more menacing than it was already. It leapt into the air, contorted its back and dove straight underground.

"WHY DOES IT KEEP DOING THAT!?" Snotlout shouted again.

I wriggled slightly, trying to get rid of the dirt that had stuck itself against my back. Stepped forward, looking at the newly-created hole in the ground.

"Uh, Hiccup, I know what you're thinking, and the answer is 'no,'" Astrid said.

I jumped in anyway, feeling the shock of landing roll through my legs. Took a few steps forward and realized Bucket was right yesterday. The Whispering Death created an entire underground village. And quickly too. Looking up, the roots from the trees above were all clipped at the same height. The dragon just bored through the earth, removing any obstacles it found. I wondered if it could dig through steel.

I heard a muffled Astrid on top of the earth state, "One of these days, I'll get him to listen."

Fishlegs added, "Or you can just be thankful you're not the one down AUGH!" He landed a few feet behind me with a dull _thud_. I was thankful I had taken a few steps forward before he was pushed in.

"Oops. Sorry," Snotlout said sarcastically. Astrid just glared at him. "You know, if Toothless were here, he'd be able to get you out of this hole." He laughed.

"Did you want to join them!?" Astrid countered. He backed up a few steps, knowing Astrid would push him down here without too much more hesitation.

"Well, thanks, Fishlegs," I said sardonically, trying to say it loud enough for Snotlout to hear. "I KINDA THOUGHT YOU'D BE THE LAST PERSON TO DROP IN!"

"Yeah, well, I didn't really want you to be down here by yourself," he said meekly. I wasn't gonna pick up a conversation with him, so I began trekking into the newly-formed cavern. "Hiccup, where are you going?"

"Are you coming? There's gotta be something down here that can help us with this dragon." I never looked at him, trying to keep my eyes in front of me. Hoping the dragon wouldn't show up at the least opportune time. I took a few steps and noticed no sound was coming from Fishlegs's direction. Turned back and saw him standing there in fear.

"Oh, were you talking to me?" he asked innocently.

"No, I was talking to your evil twin," I replied. "_Yes_, I'm talking to you."

"Uh, no thanks, I'll just…look at the scenery from here. I think you can see everything from this spot anyway," he said a little too obviously.

"Fishlegs, this is a new dragon. You love this kind of stuff."

He groaned quietly and gritted his teeth. "I _hate_ that about me!" But he followed, just like I wanted.

My peg was making a slight creaking sound every time my left leg took a step. It echoed slightly every time, making this cave seem way larger than it really was. Fishlegs and I could have stood side-by-side, put our arms out and touched either side of the tunnel we were walking in. There were enough holes in the surface to see, albeit dimly. But the low light and slight echoes from our steps made me lose track of where we were. I looked backwards, but saw no dead-end, like where Fishlegs and I had entered.

Fishlegs gasped and whispered, "_Hiccup!_" He was scared stiff by something to his left.

I looked and found a pair of eyes staring at me. For a moment, I considered running. Looked closer. "Really, Fishlegs?"

He squeezed his eyes shut and nodded.

"Yeah, that's not the dragon," I said in disinterest.

"_And just how do you know that?_"

"Because it has four eyes," I said, waiting to see what Fishlegs would do. Trying my hardest not to crack a smile.

He looked at me quizzically and said, "No it doesn't! That's two eyes!"

"Two _normal_ eyes," I corrected him. Thank goodness too. I didn't want to see two ghostly white eyes right now. These eyes had blue irises, telling me it was probably not a dragon.

The owner of those two eyes ambled out of the tunnel. It was Phil, Gobber's pet sheep.

"What is he doing here?" Fishlegs asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe the dragon thought he was food?"

Phil gave a short bleat, turned and trotted back the way we had come. Like it was nothing special. After being around Gobber for a while, nothing fazed this sheep.

As soon as we turned around, I heard a low dragging sound. Whatever was making that sound was awfully big as it dragged through the tunnel. About twenty feet in front of us, a silhouette that looked way too much like a Whispering Death appeared. Fishlegs and I had the exact same idea, which was to jump into the tunnel that housed Phil just seconds ago. In the dark, where we might be able to get away if we stayed quiet enough.

It didn't take long for the dragon to slither in our direction. I had no idea if it heard Phil, Fishlegs or me, but I wasn't taking any chances. The dragon's massive head went by first, followed by its snake-like body. Its spikes were lying flat. No immediate danger, at least for now. The dragon's tail passed us, and Fishlegs let out a long sigh of relief. "_Did you see that!?_" he whispered excitedly. "_I can't…_"

The dragon stopped. I clapped my hand over his mouth to keep him from blurting anything else out. "_Can't it wait!?_" He nodded.

The Whispering Death found one of its connecting tunnels and made a circle, essentially doubling back on the same path not five feet away from us. I kept my hand over Fishlegs's mouth.

That eerie dragging sound got closer as the dragon passed us. Its head went by without incident, but I noticed its spikes were standing on end. The Whispering Death was ready to attack someone. Or ready to defend its home from intruders. For a brief moment, I wondered if Phil was okay.

_Come on, come on,_ I thought. _Just keep moving that direction and we'll be out of here._ I figured our escape was to the right, the direction Phil had gone. I let go of Fishlegs and tried to peer around the wall, dangerously close to the spikes on the Whispering Death.

Fishlegs suddenly grabbed my vest, like he was worried I was gonna fall onto the dragon. But it wasn't that. He tapped my shoulder a few times with his finger and pointed straight in front of us. Dragon hide. What was so special about that? And spikes. A Deadly Nadder had plenty of those too.

After what felt like an eternity, the dragon slithered off. I breathed a sigh of relief that probably could have competed with Fishlegs's just a few minutes ago.

"_Did you see that!?" _he whispered again.

"_Yeah, dragon skin. There's plenty of that around_," I whispered sarcastically.

Fishlegs's hand met his forehead with a small _slap_. My eyes widened in surprise, because I heard the dragon grunt in realization. I shoved Fishlegs back into the dead-end as far as we would go. I couldn't see my remaining foot, so I hoped the dragon wouldn't see us. Fishlegs whimpered quietly, trying to keep himself from screaming.

The Whispering Death slithered by a third time, once again with its spikes standing on end. I was tired of being on edge like this. I wanted out of here. Now. But it'd have to wait. Not with a dragon that seemed untrainable maybe ten feet away. Especially when we were in its territory. Especially _especially_ when it was suspicious about somebody it didn't want here.

But the moment passed, and the dragon slithered by for the third time.

"_You didn't see the bite mark on the dragon?_" Fishlegs asked.

I knew he was behind me, but I didn't turn around to look. Too dark. "_There was a bite mark? From what?_"

"_A Night Fury._"

"_What? Toothless? No way._"

"_Toothless and the Whispering Death have a history,_" Fishlegs whispered.

This wasn't good. Now I knew why Toothless was looking for this monster. He had a score to settle. It made perfect sense now, seeing Toothless call off the other dragons. Seeing the Whispering Death pull him underground only as a statement. Seeing Toothless's isolation from everyone.

_Oh, crud,_ I thought. Somehow, I had to get through to my dragon that he was gonna be dead if he kept up a solo fight against this Whispering Death.


	3. Chapter 3

_Wait for it,_ I thought. I closed my eyes and listened. No echo, except for me and Fishlegs breathing. No sound from the Whispering Death. I crept forward and peered out from the entrance to the tunnel we were hiding in. To my right was our freedom, where the rest of our ragtag gang was waiting. To my left was the direction the Whispering Death had gone. But there was no sign of the dragon at all.

"_Fishlegs, let's go,_" I whispered. I glanced back and saw him emerge from the darkness. Took a deep breath and stepped out into the main cavern. And turned right. Fishlegs followed a few seconds later.

Just like when we had first gotten down here, my peg was creaking slightly, making soft echoes throughout the cavern. I just hoped the dragon didn't hear us as we made our way out of this maze.

"…been down there for hours!"

That sounded like Astrid. We were headed in the right direction. I motioned for Fishlegs to follow as I picked up the pace. I saw a shaft of light filtering into the cavern, which I assumed was our escape. It looked like a dead end, and Phil was standing there, looking up. Freedom.

As we approached the shaft of light and Phil, he looked at us and gave a short bleat. Astrid's face immediately appeared over the edge of the hole. "What is _he_ doing here?" she asked pointedly.

Before I could say anything, Fishlegs looked at her and asked, "Me?"

Astrid and I immediately found our faces with our hands. "No, the sheep," we said simultaneously.

After an awkward pause, I suggested, "Get Phil out first." Fishlegs scooped him up and heaved him straight upward. He bleated in panic, but Astrid grabbed a hold of him, while Ruffnut held her ankles to prevent her from falling into the hole.

Astrid wriggled her way out of the hole and placed Phil on the ground. And returned to her spot, Ruffnut holding her ankles once again.

From behind us, there was a low growl, followed by a heavy dragging sound. I glanced backwards and saw about fifty feet away a pair of ghostly white eyes and rows of rotating teeth, fronted by long, sharp fangs. The Whispering Death roared and shot forward.

"Fishlegs, you're first!" I shouted.

"No complaint here!" he said. I folded my hands together to give him a step closer to the sky. He placed his right foot in my hands and I heaved upward as hard as I could.

Fishlegs barely grabbed onto Astrid's hand when she shouted, "I NEED HELP!" Snotlout and Tuffnut joined in helping bring Fishlegs up to the surface. I watched him disappear over the rim, telling me he was above ground. Which left only one target for the Whispering Death: me.

"Hiccup! Grab my hand!" Astrid shouted, her face reappearing over the rim. She reached down, but it wasn't far enough. Even with Tuffnut helping, I was about a foot too short. "HICCUP! COME ON!"

I jumped, but only having one leg for jumping didn't help. I grabbed her fingertips and held on tightly, hoping I had just enough grip to return to the surface. It lasted two seconds, which was about an hour shorter than needed to hoist me up. I slid back down into the hole, where the Whispering Death was surging toward me. Glanced upward and shouted, "EVERYBODY, STAND BACK!" Astrid immediately disappeared from the surface as the dragon closed the distance between us.

I flexed my knees slightly, ready to cut one way or the other. The Whispering Death screeched as it got closer, trying to scare me. I jumped to my right just as it passed where I was standing not one second ago. It crashed partway through the dirt wall behind me. I was standing maybe two feet away from its side as it wriggled free from the dirt around it. Took off into its maze of caverns and hid in a corner just out of sight of the dragon. Just like where Fishlegs and I were, it was completely dark. I hoped the Whispering Death used movement to see objects.

I heard Astrid's voice ring through the cavern, shouting, "HICCUP!" She said something else, but I couldn't understand her. She was too far away to hear clearly. The dragon was on its way over, making that dragging sound again, and it seemed my heart was beating too loud for me to hear anything. And there was no way to calm down from it either. I would have bet anything short of Toothless that the Whispering Death could track me just by listening to my heart beat.

The dragon snaked into view, spikes standing at attention as it snarled, looking for the human who briefly got away. _Just keep going_, I thought. I watched as its head passed the first entrance to my little area. There was one more maybe fifteen feet away from where I was standing. _Just keep going_. I hoped the dragon's tail passed so I could sneak back out and find the rest of our little crew.

I crept forward, dangerously close to the bite mark Toothless supposedly left on the Whispering Death. The dragon would have to round the corner at my back to see me. It gave me maybe a couple more seconds to work with if it saw me. Slowly, its snake-like body kept moving forward, spikes still ready. The end of its tail crept into view. _Come on,_ I thought. _Just a little more._

The dragon's tail tip was about a third of the way across my little exit when I decided to move. Creeping up slightly on the wall, I slowly extended my peg over the tail when the dragon stopped. All I needed was for the dragon to move six more inches, and I would have been able to escape with no problem. But it just _had_ to stop there. I clenched my teeth, trying my hardest not to alert the dragon about my presence. My peg was maybe three inches off the ground when my boot slipped. My right knee brushed against the dragon's tail.

"Oh, no," I mumbled. The dragon roared in surprise and thrashed in its tunnel, trying to whip around. I wasn't gonna watch the show, not when it was a Whispering Death trying to kill me. I took off, running back toward my escape hatch.

"ASTRID! I NEED HELP!" I shouted as I saw the shaft of light.

Astrid appeared over the hole and extended her arm downward. Shouted, "LOWER, RUFFNUT!" She slowly descended toward my outstretched hand, where I grabbed onto her. This time, though, I got a solid grip on her hand. And made sure not to slip by using both of my hands.

"NOW, ASTRID!" I shouted. I felt my feet leave the ground just as the Whispering Death screeched from close range. _Please hurry_, I thought.

I felt my hands brush grass when a sudden spray of dirt and rocks lifted me way faster than Astrid and Ruffnut could pull me up. I let go in surprise, watching Astrid's eyes turn from focused to wide in terror. The fountain of earth shot me about twenty feet in the air. I looked below and saw the Whispering Death barreling out of the hole, ready to bite me in two.

"GET HIM, STORMFLY!" Astrid shouted. Her Nadder immediately leapt in the air and grabbed me about a foot away from the Whispering Death's teeth. The dragon slammed its mouth shut. Stormfly's claws tightened around my midsection as she pulled upward and set me down on sweet grass. Where I was bathed in daylight. It was cloudy, but I didn't care. For the time being, I was on the surface with the teens and their dragons guarding us.

The Whispering Death looked around with a short roar, wondering where I had gone.

"I don't think it wanted you underground," Snotlout observed.

"Yeah, I kinda figured that," I replied sarcastically.

"Uh-oh," Fishlegs said quietly. We all looked at the Whispering Death, who was now looking back at us. "I don't like the way it's looking at me."

"Don't worry, it's not just you," Tuffnut said.

The Whispering Death shrieked as it barreled forward, but Hookfang and Stormfly saw it before the dragon could get to us. Stormfly shot a white-hot blast in its direction, while Hookfang jumped forward between us and the dragon. He roared, letting the Whispering Death know he was gonna protect us.

Stormfly's left wing was obscuring my view of the lower half of the dragon. All of a sudden, the Whispering Death's head shot to the ground, like something had grabbed its tail and yanked downward. I crouched slightly, noticing another dragon had joined us. It was a jet-black dragon, about a quarter the size of the Whispering Death. Toothless. He was okay.

Toothless roared as he dragged the dragon down, but jumped off before it could react. He knew what happened to him yesterday when he held on for too long. The Whispering Death crashed into the ground, where Toothless shot a quick fireball. Somehow, the fireball missed as the dragon rose back up to about ten feet off the ground. The Whispering Death roared in anger and dove straight underground, creating yet another hole in our perfect little island. There was a low rumble that grew quieter as the dragon tunneled away from us.

I had to take this chance. I ran over to Toothless and put my hand on his neck. "Come on, Toothless, let's-" I couldn't finish my sentence. Toothless roared in agitation, thrashing away from me. He took off without even looking in my direction. He was following the Whispering Death.

"Toothless, come back!" I shouted, following him. He whipped around and shot a fireball at my feet. It hit the dirt six inches in front of my toes with a hollow explosion. I stopped immediately, staring at him. Wondering what was wrong. Why was he so bent on seeing this through alone? "Toothless…what's wrong?" I whispered. He whuffed, turned around and continued on without a second thought. I stood rooted to the spot in shock.

"Awkward…," Tuffnut whispered in my ear.

I didn't have time to waste. I wasn't gonna entertain a conversation right now, not when my dragon was in danger. Somehow, I hoped I could convince Toothless he didn't have to fight in this mess. I took off, following his trail.

About a hundred yards in front of me, it sounded like two dragons were having a roaring match. I watched as a blue fireball pierced through the treetops, missing its mark yet again. There was a burrowing sound and a low rumble, telling me the Whispering Death had gone back underground.

I crept over a hill to find Toothless about twenty yards away angrily screaming at the ground in front of him. He must have been frustrated that the Whispering Death kept playing cat-and-mouse. But it was gonna be this way forever if I couldn't get to him. And it was just a matter of time before the Whispering Death decided to end its little game and kill Toothless.

Toothless kept screaming into the newly-formed hole in the ground in an effort to possibly deafen the Whispering Death? Whatever it was, it had absolutely no effect. Briefly, I wondered if the Whispering Death was laughing right now.

I edged forward, creeping into Toothless's field of vision, trying to establish eye contact. I remembered when I was learning how to act around him, eye contact was crucial. Sure enough, Toothless looked up. His expression changed instantaneously, going from agitated to calmer. His eyes turned from slits to round, and he grunted softly, acknowledging my presence. Maybe it was some kind of an apology?

I inched forward with my right hand out, still unsure if Toothless didn't want me here. But I wasn't gonna give him a choice. I wanted to make sure he was gonna be okay.

Toothless sighed and closed his eyes. I gently stroked him on his cheek. He rumbled quietly, seemingly over his angry spell. I heaved a sigh of relief and hugged him around the neck. "You had me so worried, bud." He grunted in reply. Just like normal. "You don't have to fight this dragon. Just let it go," I said gently.

Without warning, the Whispering Death blasted its way out from underground about fifty feet away from us. Toothless whipped around, breaking my hold on him and roared at the dragon.

I heard another roar come from behind the dragon. It sounded like Hookfang. Both Toothless and the Whispering Death focused on the Monstrous Nightmare just beyond the trees surrounding them.

I took this chance and tried to climb onto Toothless's back. He jumped with a short roar, contorting his back. I lost my hold and staggered backward again. He locked eyes with me and jumped forward, pinning me onto my back, just like the very first day I met him. His claws, long, deadly and sharp, tightened around my chest. I was too startled to say or do anything. Toothless glared at me with the exact same expression as that first day. He was telling me in no uncertain terms he wanted this dragon to himself. No matter what happened, I was to stay away from him.

The Whispering Death roared as it turned back toward Toothless, who was still pinning me. Toothless let go, whipped around and took off. I sat up in fear as he grabbed a hold of the dragon for a third time and brought it to the ground. But the Whispering Death was ready this time. Toothless immediately jumped off the dragon like it was white-hot. It had used its spikes to dislodge Toothless, just like yesterday.

"Here we go again…" I mumbled.

The Whispering Death must have decided to end its game, because it shot a volley of spikes at Toothless's feet. They weren't anywhere close to hitting him, but they did what they were supposed to. Toothless started backing away from the dragon. It shot a narrow stream of lava in his direction, forcing him even further back. I looked to see what was behind Toothless. Nothing. Literally, nothing. He was getting backed onto a cliff.

"Oh, no, not now," I said. No way this was gonna happen. I didn't care if it was a magic trick, but I had to save Toothless. I had to get him away from that Whispering Death.

Toothless continued backing out of the forest, shooting fireballs at the dragon. He jumped and tried to catch the Whispering Death, but it simply whipped its tail at him, smacking his chest. Toothless crashed into the ground. I squinted, trying to see if he had been impaled, but it didn't look like it.

I noticed the Whispering Death had plenty of chances to kill Toothless, but didn't. Maybe it wanted the satisfaction of killing him in a certain way. Or maybe it was playing a sadistic game, trying to keep him alive but scared. Whatever the reason, I was grateful the dragon didn't kill him.

Toothless kept retreating slowly until his back right foot slipped. He accidentally stepped onto thin air. His claws dug into the rock, and he pulled himself back onto the cliff. I watched in horror as the Whispering Death burrowed about twenty feet away from him and immediately came back up. The dragon was creating a prison for Toothless. So he'd be easy to kill.

Toothless saw what the dragon was doing and lunged forward, trying to get back on stable ground. But the Whispering Death shot another volley of spikes, forcing Toothless to stop again. It fired another stream of lava, striking Toothless in the chest. He stumbled backward and slipped off the cliff again. Desperately, he heaved himself back onto level ground as the Whispering Death quickly burrowed and resurfaced again. The ground collapsed, leaving Toothless about twenty feet away from stable land, and about fifty feet away from me. Where I would be able to watch the Whispering Death brutally kill him in cold blood. Because of a grudge.

Toothless looked at me in desperation and gave a short roar. Like he was asking me to do something, but knowing he was going to die anyway. I ran forward and stood at the edge of the newly-formed cliff, courtesy of the Whispering Death. It was a couple hundred feet deep. Just enough time to react to a fall…

I locked eyes with Toothless as the dragon slowly moved in for the kill. His eyes were wide in terror. Toothless apparently was aware he made a huge mistake in staying away from me. Now he had no escape, and I was too far away to save him. The Whispering Death roared in triumph, getting ready to watch the Night Fury in front of him slowly die.

I took one slow step forward with my peg onto thin air, making sure Toothless was watching me. Looked down and then back at him. His eyes had a pleading expression, like he was telling me to stop what I was thinking_._ But what choice did I have? I had to do something ridiculously crazy to get Toothless's attention. So I pushed off from the cliff and tumbled downward.

I watched Toothless jump to the edge of his cliff and roar at me, probably saying I was stupid for choosing to commit suicide right before he died. But I kept my eyes on him as time slowed down to a crawl, hoping he'd get my message. If not, then both of us would be dead.

_Come on, buddy. You can do this,_ I thought. _You can do this._


	4. Chapter 4

Toothless's head instantaneously materialized above me. He gave a short, panicked roar and then looked at the Whispering Death, who paid zero attention to me throughout the entire time. The Whispering Death shot what would have been a killing strike at Toothless's chest had I not been crazy and jumped from the cliff. That fire blast would have knocked Toothless into the chasm behind him. And with no way to fly, he would have dropped like a rock. And if the impact with the ground wouldn't have been enough, I knew the Whispering Death would have flown in to finish the job.

I figured Toothless must have put two and two together, because he jumped off his "island" just before the stream of lava hit the ground and cascaded over the other side. I watched as he folded his wings, trying to become more aerodynamic, trying to reach me before I hit the ground.

_Come on, buddy_, I thought. I turned in midair to get on his back as quickly as possible just as his head reached the level of my feet. Toothless kept diving as I reached out to the saddle and yanked myself down onto his back. But I couldn't do anything unless I hooked my peg into the stirrup. Otherwise, we were pretty much dead.

I looked down at the peg and clicked in. And just underneath us was the ground. I pulled the peg forward slightly, trying to get Toothless's tail fin to spread completely out. He put his legs out underneath him to deaden the blow from the ground. We were moving way too fast to avoid any kind of collision.

I felt his legs bend slightly as he impacted the ground. It was enough of a shock to snap my head forward. I let my upper body roll with the impact and ended with my chest plastered to Toothless's back. A cloud of dust kicked up as he jumped, bringing us back to the world of the living. And I decided today that I hated dust. I just wanted to get back home so I could wash all this dirt off. But I had more pressing problems at the moment, like a Whispering Death.

"YEAH, BUDDY!" I shouted. "YOU SAVE ME, I SAVE YOU!"

Toothless grunted in approval as we gained altitude. I nudged him with my left knee, trying to get him to fly right. I wanted to hide briefly from the Whispering Death. I figured if we could surprise it, that would give us about a second to nail it with a fireball. Plenty of time.

Toothless banked right and was still rising as we rounded his former prison. Just around it was the tip of the Whispering Death's tail. The dragon probably had no idea what was about to hit it. As Toothless came around, the dragon was turned with its back to us. Perfect.

"NOW!" I shouted. Toothless launched a fireball straight into the back of the Whispering Death's head. Toothless checked to his left, so I adjusted his tail fin to head that direction. He wanted the stealth of hiding in the forest. The Whispering Death screeched in surprise and wheeled around, firing several spikes in our direction.

I remembered the timing of this dragon, with how fast it was against Thornado. I nudged Toothless with my right knee, hoping we could get out of the way of the spikes headed in our direction. One of them grazed my back as I felt a burning and ripping sensation. It tore through my vest and shirt, cutting through my skin. The spike flipped end-over-end and clattered to the ground.

"RRGH!" I gritted in pain. Toothless seemed to know what had happened and set down in the forest, near where the Whispering Death started backing him over the cliff. He looked back at me with a concerned grunt.

"HICCUP! YOU DID IT!" Astrid shouted, running toward us. "You got Toothless back!"

"Yeah, and if we don't finish this quickly, I'm gonna be dead," I told her. Without waiting for a reply, I turned around, showing her my back. I heard Astrid gasp.

"Can you do this?" she asked.

"Yeah, although the pain's getting worse. I need your help in finding this dragon's weakness. And if it doesn't have one, keep it distracted."

"Fishlegs told us the Book of Dragons says the Whispering Death has 'no known weaknesses.'"

I rolled my eyes in irritation. "Great. Just keep it distracted. We'll find some way to get it out of here." Without another word, Astrid took off toward the other teens, shouting instructions. Just as Toothless and I heard a low hiss.

"Toothless, up!" I shouted while yanking upward on the saddle. He took off. A couple of seconds later, the Whispering Death blasted out of one of its holes and immediately shot a volley of spikes at me and Toothless. Both of us saw them headed directly at me, so I shoved down on the saddle and brought my peg inward. The tail fin collapsed, and Toothless dropped underneath the spikes. We leveled out just as Toothless shot a fireball in the Whispering Death's direction.

For once, it felt great to be on the giving end of this type of exchange. The Whispering Death had no time to react as the fireball slammed into its body, knocking the dragon out of the air. The Whispering Death screeched as it fell. It collapsed into the ground and stayed there.

"Great job, bud," I told Toothless as I rubbed the top of his head. He grunted back at me and swooped in for the kill. Toothless landed about fifteen feet away and looked at his catch. The dragon was lying in front of us, breathing heavily, like it was waiting for something or someone to kill it. Like it had given up the fight and was ready to die.

Toothless crept around to the Whispering Death's head, where its eyes were open. I had no idea what it was thinking because of its lack of pupils. And it _still_ creeped me out, even after seeing the dragon up close. Well, if I couldn't figure the dragon out through its eyes, then I had to focus on something else. I watched its mouth and nostrils and immediately felt something was amiss.

"Toothless, stop," I said quietly. He looked back at me with a curious grunt, seemingly asking why I wanted him to restrain himself. But I knew something wasn't right. The dragon's mouth was too tense. It was breathing a little too hard. Like it was shamming. Toothless took one more step forward, and I pulled gently back on his saddle. He stayed put after that.

"Aww, geez, Hiccup! Why do you keep on having to get hurt!?" Snotlout shouted from the air. I looked back slightly and held my right hand up, waving them off. I knew this dragon was faking. Waiting for Toothless to get too close, so it could kill him in one motion. But how was I supposed to get it to leave? I knew I couldn't walk straight up to it and tell it to go.

"ALL RIGHT!" Ruffnut shouted. The twins landed with Barf and Belch maybe ten feet from the Whispering Death's head. Astrid and Fishlegs were last to show up. They landed several yards away from the dragon. I looked at the twins with a worried expression.

"Why are you looking at us like that?" Tuffnut said.

Without warning, the Whispering Death grunted and lunged. It snapped its jaws shut around Barf and Belch's right front foot. The twins' dragon shrieked in horror and pain, tossing Ruff and Tuff several yards away. Toothless jumped forward and clamped his teeth around the Whispering Death's neck. He backed away immediately, just before the spikes on the dragon's body shot outward. I knew Toothless bit the dragon just so that it would let the Zippleback go. It rose into the air, blasting a stream of fire at Toothless. He jumped out of the way and whipped to his left, forcing me and him between the Whispering Death and Barf and Belch. The twins' dragon bellowed in pain as it limped backwards.

"HICCUP! WHAT DO WE DO!?" Tuffnut shouted from behind me. I couldn't take the time to tell him what to do, so I hoped Snotlout, Fishlegs or Astrid would figure it out.

Toothless jumped forward with a swipe of his front left leg, forcing the dragon backwards. It shot another volley of spikes at Toothless, but he took off, me holding onto dear life. The spikes landed harmlessly in the ground, just in front of Barf and Belch. I knew Toothless didn't care a whole lot for the twins, and I assumed his relationship with Barf and Belch was neutral, but I had never seen him this fiercely angry.

Toothless shot toward the Whispering Death in the air, ramming the dragon with his head. The Whispering Death bent in two and slammed into a tree. It broke several limbs as the dragon fell to the ground. And landed in the middle of a shaft of sunlight.

I watched as the Whispering Death seemed to panic. It thrashed around on the ground before contorting itself and diving underground.

After a couple of seconds, Fishlegs shouted, "THAT'S IT! SUNLIGHT IS ITS WEAKNESS, HICCUP!"

Toothless landed a few yards away from the newly created hole. Crept up to it and peered in. He growled, but that was it. Like he was telling that dragon it had better not come back up.

Another low hiss started. The Whispering Death was coming back for revenge. And if it wasn't headed for Toothless, it was definitely going to kill Barf and Belch.

I yanked upward on Toothless's saddle but kept the tail fin neutral. Toothless tried to move forward, and I stalled him, causing us to drop slightly. He gave a frustrated roar, wondering why I wanted him to hover.

"All right," I mused. "Let's get that dragon back outside. Toothless, plasma blast!" I shouted.

He glanced back at me with a curious grunt. He thought there was no target for him to shoot.

_Communication between dragon and rider is key, Hiccup,_ I sarcastically thought. I pointed to the hole in the ground the Whispering Death had just created. And winced from the pain. My back was starting to feel swollen from where that spike grazed me. I knew I wouldn't be able to move my back soon, but I figured someone's dragon was infinitely more important than my discomfort. Besides, Gobber survived being stuck with a Nadder spike. "Right there, bud," I said, pointing.

Toothless rose higher, contorted his back and shot a fireball straight downward into the hole. It created a fountain of earth where the explosion rocked it. A second later, there was another blue flash from a nearby hole, followed by another. Each explosion brought up a spray of dirt. I figured this was an easy way to destroy a forest.

A few yards in front of Barf and Belch, the ground swelled slightly. Unless there was a rock that exploded in that spot, I knew it had to be the Whispering Death. We stalled it just enough to stop its cat-and-mouse game.

I pointed at the bulge in the ground and shouted, "Plasma blast!" Without hesitation, Toothless launched a fireball, where it exploded on the small mound. The earth tore open, causing Barf and Belch to panic again and topple over. My back, the Zippleback's leg. This dragon was causing problems all over Berk. We had to stop it now.

The Whispering Death shot out of its hiding spot and squared up to the Zippleback. Totally ignorant of Toothless, Hookfang, Stormfly and Meatlug. It chose Barf and Belch because that dragon was already in trouble. Meatlug and Hookfang immediately shoved their way between the Whispering Death and the Zippleback. Before the Whispering Death could do anything, Astrid shouted, "SPINE SHOT!"

Stormfly whipped her tail around and impaled the Whispering Death with two tail spikes. It reeled in pain just as Toothless nailed it with another fireball, causing its back to buckle slightly. He rammed it from behind, and the three of us crashed to the ground.

Toothless roared triumphantly as he stood on top of his kill. He glared the Whispering Death in the eyes, and I finally saw some expression come from the dragon. It looked worried. And I could tell that by its eyes. Toothless snarled at it, and the dragon tensed, its eyelids shutting slightly.

"Toothless, no," I said gently. He roared again, telling both of us what he wanted to do. "Toothless, stop," I said assertively. I had my left hand resting gently on his head, telling him that I was still here.

He glanced back at me with a soft grunt. I grinned slightly. He was coming back to his normal self. "Just let it go," I said gently. "Let it go."

He turned back to the Whispering Death and hissed, giving a final message to this dragon. Next time, it wasn't going to be so lucky. And Toothless and I weren't going to be so merciful.

Toothless jumped off the dragon, exposing it to direct sunlight. It thrashed again, and dove underground. I waited. There was no hiss. No foreboding sense of doom. Hopefully, that dragon was gone for good.

I relaxed with a sigh of relief, but was interrupted by a seizing pain in my back. My spine telescoped, and I toppled onto the ground. Back first. I yelled something in nonsensical gibberish, feeling pain that nobody should ever be cursed with. And the gods wouldn't let me pass out either.

"Get him on his front!" Astrid shouted, running over to me. I was blinded by tears and dirt, unable to move. Astrid and Fishlegs were the first to reach me, and they rolled me over to my chest, dangerously close to one of the Whispering Death's holes. Toothless grunted in worry, wondering if I was going to be okay.

"Are you sure the spike just grazed him?" Fishlegs asked. "Even if you get stuck with a Nadder's spike, it's not _this_ bad."

"I'm sure," she said. "I saw it."

"Hiccup, can you move? Are you okay?" Fishlegs asked. I heard everything he said, but couldn't move a muscle to tell him I wasn't all right. Even breathing was a struggle.

"This isn't good," Astrid mumbled. "Snotlout," she said, pointing at him. "Go get Stoick and Gobber. Bring them over here. Hiccup and Barf and Belch are in trouble."

"Why do I always have to miss everything? Each time something cool happens, it's just 'Snotlout, go get help.' 'Snotlout, go back to the vill…'" He stopped.

"_Do it now_," Astrid said. She had just picked up one of the spikes from the Whispering Death and was holding it threateningly. We might have won the day, but the Whispering Death got the last laugh. Because of me and Barf and Belch.

"Fine," Snotlout grumbled. He got on Hookfang, and they flew off, hopefully toward Berk. Whether they'd return was anyone's guess. The odds were even lower for returning with either my dad or Gobber.

"We've gotta do something for Hiccup and the twins' dragon now," Fishlegs said.

"I don't know if we can help Barf and Belch right now," Astrid told him. She took the spike she was holding and used it like a knife to cut the back of my shirt and vest. She was careful not to let it touch my skin, lest it make what was happening to me worse.

"You are _absolutely sure_ it just 'grazed' him?" Fishlegs asked. She nodded. And cut upward to expose most of my back to the world. "Geez, I don't know if I've seen anything this bad."

Toothless grunted softly and gently nudged Astrid and Fishlegs out of the way. "Hey, what is he doing?" Fishlegs asked. "C'mon, Toothless." Toothless looked at him and growled softly. He backed away with his hands up slightly. "Okay, never mind. You can stay there as long as you want."

After a couple of seconds, I noticed Toothless was inspecting my back. I felt his breath every few seconds touch my back. It sounded like the bellows I used in the armory. His tongue gently swiped across the gash, sending a wave of pain throughout my body. I couldn't even grimace, and breathing was getting harder by the minute. I just wanted to scream, if for no other reason than to focus on something other than the pain in my back. If some miracle didn't happen soon, I knew I was going to asphyxiate. And to think, I put myself in greater danger with the Red Death and survived.

Toothless continued working on my back with his tongue as Snotlout arrived with Gobber, my dad and Thornado in tow.

"For once, you're actually useful," Astrid sarcastically pointed out. And for once, Snotlout didn't say anything snide back to her. Not when he saw Toothless trying his hardest to ease my pain. Not when Barf and Belch had what looked to be a broken leg. The reality of the situation hit him just hard enough to keep his personality at bay.

"My son? _Again?_" my dad asked. "Where's the Whispering Death?"

"We…uh…think it's gone," Fishlegs said. "Toothless made sure it knew he was gonna kill it if it showed its face again."

"Well, Hiccup's out cold," Gobber pointed out. "Anything else?" Astrid pointed at Barf and Belch. The twins were moping nearby, not wanting to talk to anyone. "Aaaaand a Zippleback has a broken leg. You kids really know how to scare people around here."

I felt a pair of hands slide underneath my chest, wracking me with yet another silent wave of pain. My dad's face slowly came into view, but I couldn't focus. "Please tell me he's not paralyzed," he said. He draped me over Toothless's back, and the crew started the long trek home. A Night Fury carrying a paralyzed Viking, and a Zippleback limping along with a broken leg. All in a day's work.

The constant jarring from Toothless walking kept sending jolts of pain through my back. Eventually, I lost sight and passed out with my eyes open.


	5. Chapter 5

Thank goodness.

This time wasn't as bad as the last two times. Last time, I took a lightning bolt to the head. Before that was when I lost my left leg.

But today, somehow I knew I didn't lose a night because I was unconscious.

"…never seen it this bad before." It was my dad.

"Well, whatever it was, it certainly left a mark on Hiccup." That was Gobber.

And I heard what sounded like the bellows in the armory nearby. That was Toothless, I was sure of it. Toothless gave a low rumble, and I heard Gobber say, "Wh-what is Hiccup's dragon doing?"

Without hesitation, my dad replied, "Staying close to Hiccup. He's not leaving Toothless's side anytime soon."

Toothless began inspecting my back, which I guessed was bare. I found out for sure when I felt his tongue swipe across the open gash the Whispering Death had left behind. I moaned in pain slightly. But Toothless didn't seem to hear me. He continued working at my back for a little while. And the pain never went away.

_Why isn't it working?_ I wondered. Toothless could do anything. He miraculously healed my hands when I was making the connecting wire between his tail fin and his saddle. Why couldn't he do the same thing for my back? Every time his tongue touched my back, I winced slightly. Every time, I groaned in pain, letting him know he just wasn't doing the trick.

Toothless stopped with my back. He had gotten into such a rhythm that I winced in anticipation, but the pain never happened. I heard him pad a few feet closer to my face. He moaned softly in worry and then nudged the back of my head with his snout. He gave a short _whuff_, blowing my hair slightly.

I slowly turned my head and saw two yellow-green eyes staring at me. Toothless's pupils were wide, and I could tell within two seconds he was concerned about me. Unlike the Whispering Death. His mouth pulled into a slight grin, and he rumbled softly, trying to get me to relax.

"Hey, bud," I said, wincing from the effort of talking. I tried to move my left arm, but my back seized, keeping it close to my side.

"How did you help Toothless get over this so quickly, Hiccup?" my dad asked.

"Gave him lotsa water," I whispered, the pain still shooting through my back and neck. Although, it probably wasn't just the gash. I'd have bet part of it was from being so tense.

"Well, that's just great," Gobber said sarcastically. "You need to drink something, but can't lift your head or roll to your side."

"Ironic, isn't it?" I said, trying for a bit of humor. Nobody laughed.

Toothless moaned softly again, looking directly into my eyes. Like he was telling me to miraculously heal my back. He sighed. He was probably stressed because it seemed like there was nothing he could do to make it all better.

"Oh no, not this again," my dad said.

"Hm?" I asked.

"Your dragon worries me when he does this," my dad said. "He didn't leave your side when you lost your leg or when you were hit by lightning. I thought he was going to starve because he wouldn't eat until you woke up."

I grinned slightly at Toothless. He grinned back, flashing about half of a "toothless" grin. I loved it when he smiled at me, even if it was out of pity or just because I smiled at him. Just like when he looked me in the eyes a few seconds ago, it made me feel warm inside. For a few seconds, the pain disappeared because of one of Toothless's little quirks. It might not have been a miracle, like I was hoping for, but I at least felt a little better for now. I paused, letting the moment hang.

After a silence, Gobber said, "I think I'll turn in for the evening." And he clomped down the stairs. _Wait for it,_ I thought. _Right about…_

There was a sharp _pop_, meaning Gobber had used the fifth step. I grinned again at Toothless, laughing on the inside. He grinned back at me with a low rumble. Gobber sighed in frustration as I heard the door open then close.

All of a sudden, Toothless moved away from me with a grunt. I was about to ask why when his rock was set down a few feet from my bed. My dad was moving it so that I could see him. So that he could watch over me.

I sighed. "Thanks, Dad."

"You're welcome, Son." He walked down the stairs, avoiding the fifth step along the way.

Toothless licked my back a few more times, stirring up pain again. He looked at me with a concerned rumble, then padded over to his rock. I watched as he charred it, turning in a circle as he let the flame guide his feet. He tromped on the surface a few times. And curled up, looking at me. I listened to him breathing, sounding like the bellows in the armory. And grinned again. He raised his head in interest and grinned back at me. Just like Toothless. It felt like he was back to normal, like he wanted to be around me again. I sighed in contentment as I slowly fell asleep.

* * *

I awoke to Toothless massaging my back again with his tongue. But today felt different. Like there was less pain. Like the poison from the spike was starting to wear off. I took a deep breath and felt no strain on my back. The gash was just a dull fire now. Always there, but never aggravating.

"Hey, bud," I said quietly. Toothless pulled away from my back and looked at me with those deep, round eyes. He grunted, which I took to mean he was asking me if I was better today.

I moved my left arm experimentally, taking it slow just in case something painful happened. Reached out and held my hand up for Toothless. He muzzled into my palm, just like on that very first evening about a year ago. And just like then, I felt the magic in the moment. I hoped it would never get old. Toothless backed away with a low rumble a few seconds later, staring at me. He looked like he was encouraging me this time.

Somehow, I found my way to a crawling position, a dull fire shooting through my hips and left knee. Well, I couldn't do anything about the knee because it was resting directly on that stump. My hips? Probably just sore from not moving at all. I twisted my back slightly, trying to figure out my range of motion. Nothing flared up, just a dull sizzle the entire time. Hopefully, it would be gone for good by tomorrow.

I sat down on the side of my bed, facing Toothless. Looked at him and smiled, feeling the triumph of the moment. He grinned back at me with a grunt.

I grabbed my peg and fastened it to my left leg. And cautiously stood, feeling soreness in my left knee, hips, shoulders and feet. And neck. And a dull pain in my back that just never went away. I hobbled to my cache of clothing and put on a shirt and new leather vest. I had several of each, so an outfit gone recently wasn't going to hurt anything. Besides, it was all in a day's work for a Viking. Most importantly, the fire in my back never got worse once the fabric hit the gash. Maybe I could visit the Academy today.

I turned around and walked to the bath area. Washed my face off and looked at my reflection, complete with a shock of mouse-brown hair and a bony build. And I noticed a ridiculous amount of dust floating around in the basin. I sighed, knowing that keeping clean was on my to-do list for today.

_All right, let's try this_, I thought. "C'mon buddy," I said, turning toward Toothless. "How 'bout a flight?"

Toothless might not have understood all of the English language, but he certainly recognized certain words. Like "plasma blast," or "fish," or "Astrid." And especially "fly." He immediately perked and bounced in my direction, making a hollow _ka-thump_ sound every time his feet hit the floor. For some reason, I took notice of everything he did. Like something in my mind had awakened after he tried to fight the Whispering Death on his own. Toothless sat on all fours a few feet away from me, wriggling with excitement, licking his lips in anticipation of another exhilarating flight. And then breakfast. Sounded like a perfect start to the day in my opinion.

We walked down the stairs. Toothless jumped from the sixth step to the ground level, while I stepped on the right edge of that stupid fifth step. It gave a long, high-pitched creak, but nothing startling. I had found out about that trick several years ago. And I was the only one who knew about it.

Toothless and I walked outside, and I slowly climbed onto his back, not wanting to rekindle the pain I had to suffer through yesterday. I patted the top of his head after clicking my peg in and said, "Let's go, bud."

He gave a short, excited roar and took off. After a few wing beats, I closed my eyes and tried to feel what Toothless was doing. I adjusted the stirrup according to what I felt, not what I saw. We had tried this several times. Some attempts were good, others not so much. But we were getting better at it. Today, however, was incredible. Toothless never balked or roared to let me know something bad was gonna happen. Just like inside our house, I was uncannily attentive to what he was doing. Not just in sight, but feeling as well. I smiled as I rolled my peg to match his movements without looking to see where we were going. I just hoped the rest of the day was going to match this morning.

I felt Toothless preparing to land, so I opened my eyes and found the great hall staring at me. It was our little routine in the mornings. Toothless and I went for a flight, and then we ate breakfast. Without fail. I walked through the double doors to the great hall, followed by a hungry Night Fury without a second thought. Astrid saw me from one of the tables and waved me down. I joined her. She had a salmon at the ready for me, and there was an open basket of fish waiting for Toothless. He bounded over to the basket in excitement and stuck his head inside. Pulled back out with a fish in his mouth. And swallowed. I sighed in comfort. Toothless really was back to normal.

"You look better today, Hiccup," Astrid observed. I didn't want to say anything to ruin the moment, so I just nodded and started on my breakfast.

"Where's the rest of the crew?" I asked as I neared finishing breakfast. Toothless was already done and staring at me.

"They're out fixing what the Whispering Death did here. Plugging the holes with rocks, I think. And Snotlout was muttering about how he needed to find Hookfang an archenemy. He thought it was 'cool' that Toothless has one." I rolled my eyes in disgust and took a breath, ready to say something witty when Astrid held up her hand to cut me off and said, "Wait, it gets better. Snotlout was bragging this morning about how he was your archenemy and how Hookfang was a fighter and could annihilate anything, unlike Toothless."

"Did you believe him?" I asked half-sarcastically.

She grinned and said with an obvious tone, "What do you think?"

"So, I get three guesses, and the first two don't count, right?" I said, playing with the moment.

"Nah, I don't think you need that. After he said the word 'annihilate,' Hookfang blasted his helmet off."

"Just. Like. Normal," I said. Thought for a minute and asked, "Have you heard anything about Barf and Belch?"

"Yeah, the twins' dragon is fine. We wrapped its leg yesterday after we got back. He didn't have any broken bones, just several gashes."

"D'you find it weird calling Barf and Belch one dragon?" I asked randomly.

She shrugged. "Not really. I bet you'd get a different answer if you asked Ruffnut and Tuffnut that question." I grinned.

Astrid stood up and took our dishes (including Toothless's basket) to the back for cleaning. She caught up with me as I had my hand resting on the back of Toothless's neck, guiding him toward the doors leading into the great hall.

Everything felt more vibrant today, maybe because I was happy Toothless was his usual self again. I had to do something crazy to convince him I was always going to keep watch over him, but he got the message. And I felt comfortable knowing he was going to do the same for me.

Astrid got Stormfly out of her shelter and rejoined us. For whatever reason, I felt like walking today, so I soaked up the vista as we made our way toward the Academy. I had no plans for the day, and that was perfectly fine with me. We could figure something out. And if not, we could always spend the day with our dragons.


End file.
